Dialogue

Building on the work of physicist David Bohm, The ISIS Institute explores ways to promote dialogue among scientists and counteract the division and fragmentation of scientific thought. Our purpose is to question the nature of science, its practice, and its moral, ethical, and social dimensions.

A group of young scientists from the Five Colleges, senior colleagues, and others interested in science and the process of dialogue now meets regularly in a series of structured sessions to explore the uses of formal Bohm-style Dialogue in transforming the scientific tradition. Whether as a continuing practice, an interesting temporary exploration, or an innoculation against future professional socialization into an un-self-reflective mode, this experience seems to hold the promise of training scientists in a unique and powerful way.
For some more notes on how dialogue works, click here.

The on-going Dialogue initiative was co-convened by Hampshire cell biologist Dr. Chris Jarvis and two community members on a monthly basis.
Institute President Herbert Bernstein is a frequent participant and introducer of the process. For more information, contact
Dr. Bernstein at ISIS Institute.

"The Life and Thought of David Bohm:
Development of the Notion of Dialogue"

In June 1995, our Institute hosted this Scientists' Dialogue initiative, bringing together scientists, social scientists, experienced dialoguers, artists, and others for three days to use dialogue in the tradition of physicist David Bohm to explore issues of science and its social and psychological components. This effort was funded by several Five College institutions, the Uniterra Foundation, and the Fetzer Institute, which provided a grant to write about the Dialogue as part of the ISIS's exploration of ways to change scientists' understandings of the nature and practice of science.
The dialogue process and its results are disseminated in print and video through our Institute's Publications Catalog, available here.